NBA Finals Game 4 Journal

5:56 - I want to make it clear that I am rooting for LA because I can't stand Orlando's fanbase. A large majority of them probably don't realize that their team is even in the Finals because they're too busy buying Mickey Ears at DisneyWorld.

And you know what? They use the theme song to CSI for introductions, and had a MC who had a checkered suit that only a guy who still lived with his mom would wear. And the pregame intros were rather quiet. Remember when Seattle was in the Finals and you couldn't here the PA Announcer before the game? Oh yeah but they don't have a team anymore. No I'm not bitter... not in the least.

6:00 - They just showed a montage of NBA Champions and I think the Spurs got shown for roughly .02 seconds. I'm so glad the league is sweeping them under the rug as if their championships never happened.

6:06 - Considering the Dallas Cowboys reputation with the the structure strength of their buildings, do you really want the 2010 All-Star Game being played at Texas Stadium.

6:10 - Game starts, and they talk about how Kobe Bryant looked tired in the last Finals game - even though he was pretty much their entire offense in the first half of that game. How can anyone be "tired" is this day and age with luxury hotels, mega-conditioning, and plush conditions all around. It's not like he had to get off his construction worker job for the day to play basketball.

6:13 - Dwight Howard -- looks like what some football players want to look like with their shoulder pads on -- without any such assistance.

6:15 - Lamar Odom checks into the game. I really enjoy watching this guy play, I'm so glad he could finish his Butterfinger in time for the game.

6:21 - Commercial break shows Adam Sandler in a movie called "Funny People" ... how ironic.

6:24 - A shot of Amway Arena, does that place have the smallest parking lot in the NBA. I count three mini-vans, whatever Tiger Woods drove in on and Dwight Howard's groupie-wagon. That's it. Where does everyone else park? The Popeye's parking lot?

6:28 - Dwight Howard's parking spot must be at the free throw line because that's where he's been at for the entire game.

6:29 - Some guy from Congo checks in for the Lakers, meanwhile Adam Morrison doesn't make the playoff roster.

6:31 - With the score 18-15 Magic, Trevor Ariza gets called for a technical. In the first quarter. For an emotional outburst. Pace yourself. You'll be re-arranged JJ Reddick's facial structure by the third.

6:33 - Courtney Cox's latest project... Cougar Town! Just what I want to watch, old 40-year women hit on young guys! I can do that by going to a Spokane bar, so why would I need to watch this on TV?!?!?! (By the way I got groped by a Cougar down in Tri-Cities during the Shock game. Long story. Very Akward. And Weird)

6:33 - Stan Van Gundy quotes Greg Popavich during the pregame talk in some footage shown to us by ESPN. I wonder if Stan will be sporting the serial killer beard by game six.

6:37 - Riddle me this. So if the Lakers win the NBA Championship, Luke Walton will officially have more championship rings than Lebron James. Wow.

6:39 - Here's some insight - Orlando complains a lot about the calls... as in every single one.

6:44 - End of first quarter and we have our first WNBA Commercial, and Phil Jackson calls the officiating bogus. All right! Three more quarters to go of this.

6:50 - J.J. Reddick is playing well ... and I just wrote that.

6:56 - 37-27 Rashard Lewis hits a three to give Orlando its biggest lead of the series (they would lead by as much as 12 in the game). That's what you get for leaving the best 3 point shooter on the X-box version of NBA Jam open. Seriously.

6:56 - Another reason I hate Orlando fans. Those handclapper noise makers. ITS CALLED YOUR HANDS! SLAP THEM TOGETHER!!! How lazy has America gotten?

7:03 - Kobe's pregame interview shown by ESPN ends with Jeff Van Gundy saying that he sounds like a coach. Good god, if that happened not only would I be glued to my tv set for every single game but I think we would see the first ever occurance of the coach electing himself to take the technical foul free throw shot.

7:10 - HALFTIME

7:22 49-37 Magic, just for reference

7:47 - 51-44 Magic, the Lakers have definitely picked it up and Trevor Ariza can't miss.

7:55 - 55-54 LA's first lead.

7:59 - Adam Morrison sighting! He's in a bible salesman suit awkwardly high fiving Trevor Ariza, who doesn't actually know his name and wonders why Morrison is trying to get him to buy five copies of the Scientology Fundamentals.

8:02 - Chris Tucker has gotten fat. AND GEEZUZ! IS THAT TIGER WOOD'S WIFE? Holy hotness. I guess that is what you get when you're the best golfer on the planet. Ever.

8:05 - Magic commit their 15th turnover. Hey it's like the late 90s Seattle Seahawks!

8:07 - Things get physical, Howard grabs Kobe from behind, tempers flare, words are spoken and it's at this point that I realized that the refs need to let these guys play and stop freaking out every time there's any sort of contact. Howard and Kobe were members of the USA Gold Medal team. They're friends. They're playing for an NBA Championship so things are going to get chippy but at the end of the day, they're still going to be friends. So don't get your panties all in a twist when these hyper-competitive guys start speaking words to one another.

8:18 - Derek Fisher is still in the league?

8:20 - I love the random Kobe "I'm MAD!" cuts that ESPN does at random moments of the game.

8:37 - Jameer Nelson makes his first good play of the game with four minutes to go in the entire game. A pass to Howard for the dunk. Boy, I'm sure the Magic are glad he's finally coming around eh? Facing a possible 3-1 deficit and Nelson can pass now? Wowee!

8:49 - Three pointer, three pointer, three pointer...

8:50 - Dwight Howard misses both free throws. Yowza. This will come back to bite the Magic. That would have iced the game and instead it's 87-84 with 10.8 seconds to go. Orlando leads

8:53 - Derek Fisher is in fact, still in the league. Despite being 0-5 in the game from behind the three point line, he his a three-pointer with four seconds to go.

OVERTIME -Time for me to get my antacid pills

9:00 - Last Finals to have two overtime games? Boston vs. LA in 1984. That says something about where the NBA is right now as a league. So entertaining.

9:04 - Pau Gasol has the best "WHAAAAT?!?!" face. He must react wonderfully when his girlfriend tells him that she's pregnant or has 15 aliases.

9:06 - Second WNBA ad... and it's funny that they show them playing in packed Arenas.

9:09 - DEREK FISHER FOR THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! ... and did anyone notice Jameer Nelson get hit by Kobe Bryant's elbow of fury when he passed it out to Fisher? Me neither.

(Is this 2002 all over again with Fisher hitting big threes for the Lakeshow? Should I be listening to 98 degrees and Outkast? Can I get a copy of "The Spy Who Shagged Me"?

9:12 - 96-91 Pau Gasol breakaway dunk and he proceeds to akwardly chest bump everyone on the floor, even Adam Morrison, who drops the bibles he's selling. Game is over... now they just need to run out the clock.

9:14 - Gasol gets another bucket but is hard fouled by Pietrus. A very cheap shot by him because the only reason Gasol went for the bucket was because the Magic were still defending hard even though there was like three seconds left. They got chippy afterward, I'm pretty sure Gasol called Pietrus a "Mother Goose" or something like that.

99-91 Lakers win.

And Derek Fisher has that "I'm dating your hot ex-girlfriend" grin going on.